MIAMI, Florida – For the second straight year, the Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League will include a team hailing from Haiti that is debuting in the tournament.

A year after Arcahaie’s maiden SCCL voyage in 2021, Cavaly AS will get a crack at the region’s best in the 2022 edition after winning the 2021 Flow Concacaf Caribbean Club Championship.

A key member of the Cavaly squad is Dutherson Clerveaux, a 23-year-old midfielder who also appeared in all three matches for the Haitian National Team in the 2021 Concacaf Gold Cup.

After taking the top prize in last month’s domestic Tournoi US Millenium Communications, Clerveaux feels like Cavaly’s SCCL preparation is right on track.

“We have been preparing since November and we have been continuing our preparation for this competition because we know it is a big competition. Last Sunday we became champions in the domestic tournament here and that has helped us see how our preparation is going,” said Clerveaux in an exclusive interview with Concacaf.com.

“It is important to remember what we did during the FCCCC, but it is a different competition, the Champions League is a bigger tournament. We know we need to prepare more and so we are doing that now,” added Clerveaux.

Cavaly’s conquest of the 2021 FCCCC marked the club’s first major title since winning the 2007 Ligue Haitienne and has only made the squad hungrier to bring another trophy back home to Leogane.

Dutherson Clerveaux #10 lifts the trophy as champions of the Flow Concacaf Caribbean Club Championship 2021.

“For us players, it was the most important trophy that we could get. Many years had passed since we won a trophy, and so winning that trophy meant a lot for this club, for the city and the people living in this city. It is a great city with great fans and we want to try to bring another trophy back,” said Clerveaux.

In the Round of 16 of the SCCL, Cavaly are tasked with a tough series against 2021 MLS Supporters Shield winners the New England Revolution, a team that Clerveaux and his teammates will get to know quickly.

“We know some of their players and how they play in watching some of the videos of their games in the U.S. The most important thing for us is our preparation. “We are a good team and we have to prepare for this game,” said Clerveaux.

Cavaly are the fifth different Haitian club to appear in the SCCL and for the entire squad, it is the opportunity of a lifetime to show the rest of the world their quality.

“For us, it is a dream come true. We have to prepare for it because it’s like a window for us to show what we know and who we are as players. We have to show that we are going to play a good game. We have to make sure that we have a good team and let the New England Revolution know that we have a good team. We want to play really well so we can show people watching the game that this is what it means to us to play in this competition,” concluded Clerveaux.